Erased From Time
by scarlet phlame
Summary: The Doctor's timeline was upset by The Great Intelligence, if only for a moment. It sends aftershocks throughout the world. Nikki Smith finds herself in a position where she might be the only one who can get back the man everybody needs. (NOTE: This is a very old, abandoned story arc that I'm posting here for my own reasons... Unless you're Kai, M, Kyle, or B, I don't rec reading.)
1. Chapter 1

AN: I'm really posting this more for nostalgia purposes... and to share with some of my school friends easier. That's all.

It's basically this really old story arc I abandoned; I highly doubt anyone'll read it as it's got an OC in it, and we all know that FanFictioners treat OCs like the plague... but, again, it's more for a private RP on Messages so my buds know how my OC operates, 's all.

* * *

"All right, where are you, you little sucker?"

There is an evident pause in the room.

"Don't hide from me. You won't escape so easily."

There's another pause, although definitely no silence.

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Judging by your silence, you are leaning towards the hard way."

One final pause.

"Well, then, I see how it is."

I'm sitting on a stool propped up in the corner of an old underground warehouse, of sorts. There's a little desk in front of me, although I can barely see the linoleum surface, as it's submerged in a sea of various hardware tools and other items. My eyes scan the surface, reaching the end of the table, although I don't stop searching there. My gaze dives towards the floor- there it is, the little screw I was searching for earlier.

...No, really. It's literally a screw.

I pick it up, examine it. Then look at the thing I'm building, grab a screwdriver, an fasten it in. My finger finds the button and I flick it upwards.

I beam. I've just completed my very first flashlight. Ever. And it didn't even explode this time, so I must be getting at least a little bit better at it.

Now, all I have to do is make it so that it actually lights up.

Before I can get out of my seat, there's another alarm sent blaring. Oh, so that's what that round thing on the desk is- a heat sensor. Figures. Well, figurines. Whichever you prefer.

I take two steps. Another alarm joins the chorus of screaming sensors, and the door bursts open.

Cue the running in of a Japanese woman, a guy with brown hair holding a pizza, and another guy wearing a long coat.

"Hi!" I say- well, by that, I mean shout. "How ya doing?"

The Japanese woman runs to a computer, tapping something on the keyboard. I watch her for a moment, then the alarms turn off.

"Thanks!" I say. "Those alarms are really awful."

The guy in the coat points a gun at me. "How did you get in here?"

I point to the door. "There was a door."

"That's the supply closet," the guy holding the pizza says.

"Oh, all right," I mumble. "Well, there you go. You got me. I'm from Star Trek and Scotty beamed me into here. So sue me. Or Mary Sue me. Or whatever."

They stare at me, although their expressions don't change.

"There was a perception filter up there, and I thought you might be aliens," I say.

The guy in the coat points to my flashlight, seemingly unshaken my my comment. "What's that?"

I look down at the item in my hand. "It's... a flashlight. Well, sort of. I made it. And it didn't explode, which I think I should get an award for. Except it doesn't actually light up. It just... looks nice."

The guy holding the pizza puts it down on the floor, then he moves the chair I was sitting on away from the table. All the while, the guy in the coat is still holding the gun in the direction of my head.

"Sit down," the guy holding the pizza tells me.

I sit down.

"So, you see, Officer Krupske, you should really let me go," I say.

The guy in the coat blinks. "Yeah, that's not my name," he tells me.

"Well, it's what I'm gonna call you, you know, from West Side Story? The cop guy?" I suggest.

The guy looks at me for a long while. "What do you want?" he finally asks.

I point at the exit. "To leave."

"Why would you break in here?" the guy who was holding the pizza wonders.

I shrug. "Well, I like breaking things. And this was a high-security base, so I had to break it." I frown a bit. "Or... break into it. Whichever you prefer."

Pizza guy folds his arms. I keep looking at Coat guy, because he looks painfully familiar, as if I know him from somewhere.

"I'm not after anything in this base!" I insist. "I just wanted to break in for fun!"

Coat guy stares at me. "You're saying you broke into this base, Torchwood, a high security place that no one knows about?"

I shrug. "You obviously know about it. I know about it. So some people do know about it." I stare at him, squinting. "Are you a liar, Mister Krupske?"

Then it hits me. I know who this guy is.

"You do realize that, under any circumstance, you would-"

"Sorry, Mister Jack," I say. "I forgot your name, for a minute." He looks at me. Doesn't seem surprised. I suppose he's under the impression that I knew who he was before, that I'm playing mind games with them.

"I know you," I clarify. "You were in that box thing, with the Doctor and that blonde kid."

He stiffens. Well, point one to me.

"Lock down the base," he tells Mrs. Japanese chick.

Okay, so I might've freaked him out a bit. I need a clever lie to get myself out of this situation. I jump out of the chair, which startles Pizza guy a bit.

"Wait, Jack!" I say. "I... uh, know you. Because I'm from your future. And I can't tell you how we met. But I thought you might figure it out when I told you that blonde girl and the Doctor were in that box. You talked about the Doctor a bit."

He stares at me for a moment. "After the Ostarhagen thing, then?"

I shuffle my feet. "You mean that thing that blows up the world," I clarify. "Well, I don't want to blow up the world. I'm standing on it right now, so that wouldn't be the primary option."

He relaxes a bit. I suppose I'm a good liar. Somebody give me an award!

Boy, am I lucky I know what the Ostarhargen key is. I don't really want to think about what might've happened if I didn't.

"I know you, so that's how I got in here," I tell him. "But I'm awful with alarms. I just didn't want to say anything. You know the timelines."

He nods. Mrs. Japanese chick and Pizza guy are still staring at me distrustfully.

"What are you doing here, then?" Pizza guy asks. "Why not just call Jack?"

"I don't have a phone," I say. "And... Sorry, Jack. I'm not here to see you."

Believe it or not, there's a reason why I broke in here.

"I'm trying to find a phone," I tell them.

"Then go to Apple," Pizza guy says.

"Owen," Japanese chick warns.

'Owen' sighs.

I sigh, too. "I'm looking for a specific phone," I tell them. "It can make contact with a man called the Doctor. I was told it was in a high-up super-secret base, so I figured it must be this place."

I'm relieved Jack seems to trust me by this point. Even if he won't help me, if he really knew who I was, let's just say there would be one person less in the room.

I honestly hate Jack. I wish I was the one who didn't know the other.

"You mean Martha's phone," Jack says, slowly.

I look up, surprised. I wasn't exactly expecting him to trust me so easily.

"You know who has it?" I ask.

"Prove you know me," Jack says, squinting. "Tell me something, as proof."

Ooh, oh boy. What do I know? Well, nothing, that's what. I know nothing about Jack Harkness. Zip.

"I..." I look around the lab, for inspiration. Nothing strikes me. Was there anything Luke mentioned about Jack? Anything at all?!

"You're immortal!" I blurt. "You can't die!"

Okay, I am seriously hoping that Luke wasn't kidding.

Jack stares at me for a long time, then sighs. "Tosh, Owen, mind leaving us alone for a moment?" They hesitate. I can see that they don't want to leave. He sort of glares them down for a moment, and, finally, they exit. He turns to face me.

I beam. I am so smart. Someone should get me pants. So then I can be a smarty pants. Get it?! Get it?! No?

...Darn, I got all the dumb readers again.

As soon as they're out of view, I sigh. Shaking my head, I squirm under his gaze. "Okay, so, I kind of lied, I don't really know you. I mean, I've heard about you, but we never really met."

He blows out a breath. I can see that he's standing all stiff.

I crack a half-grin. "Hey, loosen up, man. Someone might walk in here and mistake you for a plastic mannequin."

He doesn't smile. Just sort of stares at me for a second, then folds his arms across his chest. Then he points at my flashlight. "That's a bomb. Not a flashlight. I recognize it. I've only seen one of these-"

"I'm not a Time Agent," I blurt, before he continues. "I just stole it from one. I've been traveling all over to find the compartments for it. I needed to fix it."

"Why?"

I avert my gaze. "I can't say. But I made a promise to somebody, and I'm not backing down."

He sighs. "Fine."

I hold up the bomb. "Something's gone wrong with time, and I'm supposed to fix it. I don't know how. I don't know what I'm doing. I fell through time; it was all an accident, really. But I need to do this. Okay?"

I don't really know if I honestly look genuine to him. It doesn't matter to me. "Say, Jack, have you ever heard of the Doctor?"

He blinks. "Doctor Who?"

"The Doctor? The reason Torchwood was founded? No?"

He shakes his head.

I inhale, sharp.

"I've never heard of a Doctor."

I smile, shake, kind of numb. "There's a good reason for that," I admit. "And that's because he's sort of been erased from time."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I'm really posting this more for nostalgia purposes... and to share with some of my school friends easier. That's all.

It's basically this really old story arc I abandoned; I highly doubt anyone'll read it as it's got an OC in it, and we all know that FanFictioners treat OCs like the plague... but, again, it's more for a private RP on Messages so my buds know how my OC operates, 's all.

* * *

Well, I certainly wasn't settling into the Hub well, that's for sure.

I was constantly reminded that, no, I was not a member of Torchwood, and, no, I wasn't allowed to touch that alien artifact, because it would blow up half of Cardiff. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. It isn't like I even care. I mean, seriously. Torchwood, Cardiff, doesn't even know what they're doing.

But they are kind of funny in their own, domestic, silly way.

They're all so full of humanity. I'm not. And if any of them knew who I was... they'd never forgive me for it.

Even if I hate them all, they are sort of likable in their own way, I guess. Like small, cute, dogs.

Maybe I'm going insane. I dunno.

I sigh and finish editing the document I'm about to send to Luke. It's my own personal laptop, although that doesn't give any illusion of safety. Torchwood's probably monitoring me as I think.

Which is sort of bad for them, since I have a tendency not to think a lot.

Time's crumbling everywhere, which is very not good. I wish Luke was the one to come here; he's so much better acquainted with Jack, and smarter, and he knows how to handle his weapons. Me? Jack's bloody lucky that I didn't shoot a curveball bullet into his brain during weapons training. (Although, it was sort of tempting.)

I turn my gaze back towards the little Time Agency container (flashlight) and sigh, twiddling my thumbs. I bite my lower lip. Why can't these things just blow themselves up? Save the rest of us all the trouble. Stupid engineers.

"Coffee?"

I turn. Oh. Ianto. Why's he giving me "coffee"? Is it some sort of weird tea? I blink, then nod and take it. "Uh, thanks, but why–"

He turns and darts off, and I sigh. Oh, well. I take a sip, and– hey! This tea totally sucks!

* * *

"The Doctor's sort of flashing out of time," I explain to Jack.

"Doctor who?"

"The Doctor! The alien, two hearts, nine hundred years old, Rose, space station!" I huff. "You know, the Doctor!"

"I know who the Doctor is," Jack frowns at me.

"Ugh!" I groan, let my face fall into my hands. "The Doctor–"

"Who–"

"Is a very important person who is, for whatever bizarre reason, being erased from time," I continue.

"Of course he's important–"

"JACK!" I scream. "Stop it! Okay? Can you just, like, stop talking for three minutes and let me explain?"

Pause.

"Ok, so this guy, this guy who's probably the reason that the universe is alive and standing right now, is a hero in places all over the universe–even though he's a pretentious bugger and I hate him–is flashing in and out of time. People who've met him, or have had their timelines altered by him, are in danger. Good? Good."

Jack blinks. "So the Doctor–"

"Think of it like a light switch. Someone keeps on switching it up and down," I continue. "You forget him, and then you remember him. Something's going wrong here. Pretty soon, it won't be our memories flickering out, it'll be our lives," I sigh, frowning. "A friend sent me here to try and fix it. I don't know why me. He could've come just as easily."

"So how come you can remember this guy?" Jack asks me, after a pause.

I purse my lips together, manage some sort of a faint smile. It's not real. I blame Jack for it.

"That's your fault," I hiss, and then I walk out of his office.

* * *

For some strange reason, I seem to be craving Ianto's bizarre tea.

I huff out a sigh, then check my laptop again. Apparently my Inbox is empty. Why is it empty? Luke has thousands of emails. I shake the Air. Okay, so, maybe it's broken or something.

Maybe I tampered with it badly?

Might explain why toast occasionally pops out of the place CDs are supposed to go.

I groan, and ruffle my hair all up. Sky, right, this is for Sky. And Maria. And Clyde, and Rani, and Luke. I can tolerate Torchwood and the guy in the blue box for their sakes. Not for mine. I'm pretty sure mine doesn't matter anymore.

Which really sucks, because I'm probably the best-looking one in the group!

...Probably.

"Oh, oh, you idiot, you had to go and get erased from time!" I groan. "You know, I wouldn't be here if not for you, all stupid with your box and your blonde girl and..." I huff. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

Maybe I can just let him get erased from time. It wouldn't bother me. I'd be up on my nice planet, with my nice family, robbing people of their livelihoods and stealing money. I mean, it's what I'm good at. I'm no hero. So the universe burns, planet Earth blows up. Who really cares?

"Oh, stupid, stupid, stupid," I chant. "Why couldn't I just not meet them? Why can't I just not love them?"

I wish I had never gone to 13 Bannerman Road.


End file.
